In accordance with progresses in globalization of enterprises, numerous suppliers and factories (factories that manufacture products using parts) are dotted globally. Accordingly, processes of confirming parts delivery responses in reply of parts delivery requests and of adjusting production plans for each combination of suppliers and factories become quite complex for buyers and production planners.
Technologies of optimally drafting parts delivery requests to multiple suppliers on the basis of production plans of a plurality of factories already exist. However, such production plans continuously change in accordance with fluctuations in demand of products or the like. It regularly and frequently happens that once drafted parts delivery requests to suppliers (number of required parts, etc.) are changed based on such fluctuations in demand or the like. In such instance, it is necessary for suppliers to confirm and to create a delivery response whether it is possible to carry out (supply) the changed parts delivery request (number of required parts, etc.) and the buyers need to inquire and receive responses in reply to such delivery requests. The suppliers require a certain span (for instance, one to two days) for confirming and creating such delivery responses.
A system that supports transactions of parts between buyers and suppliers (accepting and ordering) for realizing optimization of delivery adjustments is already known as underlying art. In one example of such a system, a support service is provided in which a server or similar is provided on the network (internet) to which buyers and suppliers can respectively access for registering or displaying transaction information through Web interfaces or similar. The buyers register delivery requests to suppliers on the system including information regarding numbers of required parts in accordance with their product production plans. Suppliers register delivery responses to the system including number of suppliable parts in reply to such delivery requests of buyers. It is thereby possible to optimize delivery adjustments.
There are known as prior art, among others, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2009-301466 (Patent Document 1) and Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2008-52438 (Patent Document 2).
In Patent Document 1 (Method for supporting optimization of supply chains), it is described that it is possible to prevent delays in production owing to stockout of materials and delays in shipping due to lack in product inventory even in the presence of fluctuations in sales plans due to abrupt increases in sales numbers which are beyond preliminarily estimated sales fluctuations.
In Patent Document 2 (System for supporting sales plan evaluations), it is described to visualize transitions in inventory balances depending on timings of reviewing sales plans and to support evaluation of effects that decision making timings of plan changes have on business indicators.